The best baseball players born on Aug. 19

Who are the best players born on each day of the year? We have a list for every day on the calendar.

Here’s a subjective ranking of the top five for Aug. 19:

1) Gary Gaetti (1958)
Gaetti manned the hot corner for six teams over 20 seasons in the Majors, most famously over a 10-year stint with Minnesota. He won four straight Gold Gloves from 1986-89, and in 1987 he was named the ALCS MVP and fielded the final out of the World Series for the Twins' first championship. He cracked the 25-homer mark five times in his career, topping out at 35 blasts in his Silver Slugger 1995 season with the Angels and retiring with an impressive 360 homers and 2,280 hits.

2) Ron Darling (1960)
Other players born on Aug. 19 may have compiled more Wins Above Replacement, but few could match Darling's impact at his peak and his legacy in the game. The Hawaiian-born right-hander was the No. 2 starter behind Dwight Gooden for the famous 1986 Mets title team, when he went 15-6 with a 2.90 ERA and finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting. He won 99 games with a .350 ERA for New York from 1983-91 before finishing off his playing career with four-plus seasons in Oakland. After hanging up his cleats, he became an Emmy-winning broadcaster for the Mets and a respected commentator for TBS and MLB Network.

3) Bobby Richardson (1935)
Richardson won three World Series and made eight All-Star teams as a second baseman for the Yankees from 1955-66, but oddly enough it's for a World Series he didn't win that he's most remembered: In 1960 he was named World Series MVP despite the Yankees losing in seven games to the Pirates, the only player to win the award in a losing effort. A career .266/.299/.355 hitter, Richardson is also well known for snaring Willie McCovey's game-ending lineout that preserved a 1-0 Yankees win in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series.

4) J.J. Hardy (1982)
Hardy made a name for himself as a power-hitting shortstop for the Brewers in the mid-2000s, but he didn't find his true home until a December 2010 trade from Minnesota to Baltimore. He slugged 30 homers in his first season in Birdland and won three straight Gold Gloves from 2012-14. Just as important, he was a crucial veteran presence for the Orioles' long journey back to contention, culminating in an AL East title in 2014. He was elected to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2021.

5) Woody Williams (1966)
Williams spent 15 seasons as a reliable right-hander for the Blue Jays, Padres, Cardinals and Astros. He found his best form late in his career, when he made his only All-Star team at age 36 with St. Louis in 2003 and went 18-9 with a 3.87 ERA and 153 punchouts.

Others of note:
Tex Carleton (1906)
Carleton was a right-handed workhorse for the Cardinals and Cubs in the 1930s, winning a World Series with St. Louis in 1934 after making 40 regular-season starts. He won at least 16 games three times and posted an era as low as 3.15 with the Cubs in 1937. After one season with the Dodgers in 1940, he retired with a 100-76 record and 3.91 ERA in his eight-year career.

David Palmer (1957)
Palmer was a promising right-hander for Montreal as the 1970s became the '80s, though elbow surgery forced him to miss the entire 1981 season and the only postseason berth in Expos history. He was able to return from Tommy John surgery in 1983 to pitch six more effective seasons before retiring in 1989.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Aug. 19? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.